Figured I'd break the summer doldrums with a random update...too quiet on the boards! Some photos from around the vivs:

R summersi!

Bakhuis female - what you lookin at?

Mom and kiddo in the shadows...

Spring storms were good for red galacs...first froglets coming OOW.

And here's hoping Zach is still lurking I've always liked my super slow growing Selaginella erythropus. Recently I've noticed what I initially thought was some moss overgrowing it, but after tugging at it pretty good, I'm wondering if the plant is actually flowering. Any ideas?

Selaginella erythropus wide angle

Selaginella erythropus close up. Flowering?

Selaginella erythropus alternate close up

Here's a full tank shot of the R. summersi viv where the Selaginella erythropus is planted.

I really like this tank (and its occupants). Three types of selaginella and Begonia bipinnatifida dominate this viv. It's pretty different than my other vivs mostly because I dialed back the amount of space I allowed for the Selaginella uncinata. I like the way that looks, but I really like Selaginella erythropus much better, it's just a pain to wait for it to grow in! Believe it or not there is actually about four inches of live oak leaf litter piled up in the shadows of this tank. I just prefer having lush ground cover out front. The summersi surprisingly like hanging out on the Begonia bipinnatifida.

Jim, sorry that I've been MIA for a bit. I don't think the things you're seeing are Selaginella reproductive structures. The little tree-like things definitely look like moss to me. There may be some strobili in the second photo far left, but it's hard to tell for sure from the photo if it is that or just some nice fronds.

Selaginella are like ferns, lycopodiums, etc. in that they technically don't flower but instead reproduce by spores. Their life cycle is a fairly complex process (compared to flowering plants) called alternation of generations. Basically the form that you see is the sporophyte, which produces haploid spores through the strobili. These spores divide and develop into a gametophyte, which produces gametes that eventually merge together (zygote) to produce another sporophyte.

Thanks Zach! No worries - busy summer for all! Interesting I'll have to take a closer look at the tips of the different Selaginella I have. I have been nervous about tugging at this moss since the erythropus is so fragile. I may have to get out the pruning tongs and shears to get a closer look

Hey Jon! Four already this summer! There should be quite a few more in the morph out tank, but it's hard to get a count in the leaf litter / high tannin water lol.

Very cool setup and nice to read thru and see how it grew. Lots of people think things like this happen over night but it takes time. When built my fish room it took years to get up to it's largest, I have scaled it back a lot so I can make room for something like your setup in the years to come.

Got a question about the vivs, the 6 large ones are 18"x18"24" correct? How about the smaller grow out ones are those the 12"x12"x18" or the smaller 8" ones?

Yes the larger vivs are 18-18-24 and the grow outs are 12-12-18. The grow outs are planted with friendship pilea and peacock spike moss - stuff I don't care about because I routinely clear them out and toss the plants.

Time for an update on the highland sirensis / lamasi / tingo maria call 'em what you want project. The group has a few males that call consistently. I have not seen any eggs for the past month or so. The initial clutches from a few months back yielded four tads. I lost one - just found it floating one day, but the other three are coming along nicely. Some shots during a night time water change (they are in a 2.5 gallon tank with a sponge filter, Turface substrate, and an inch or so of saturated / sunk live oak leaves. There's also some floating bark for crawling out...this is the same setup I'm using for tincs and fants).

Two highland tads in the leaf litter.

Surfacing for a snack

coming up for some air

dorsal shot

belly shot

this one has a built in emoticon :)

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And finally, switching out fly traps...the uninitiated definitely give the little yellow bubbly jars a double take lol (apple cider vinegar with a drop of dish soap, shaken, not stirred):

Am I understanding correctly that you are communally raising your ranitomeya tads? Very interesting. Also, that is a LOT of apple cider vinegar! I use a tiny little dish of it and it catches flies like crazy haha!

Haha yeah it looks like a lot but the jars are small - about 2oz and I have vivs scattered around the house so I have to distribute them around a bit. We also have dehumidifiers in our HVAC systems that help keep it cool down here - 45% RH or slightly lower during the summer which makes it feel really cold when it's 78 inside. The problem is the vinegar evaporates in about two weeks! It may be overkill, but it also keeps the Mrs. happy - drastically fewer strays in wine glasses

I started communally raising tincs and galacts a few years back after talking to Marcus Breece about how he handled his tadpoles. I was looking for less resource intensive methods for raising tads, and communal tanks fit the bill. I am still experimenting with this method and thumbnails - I did notice two of the first few froglets were missing toes, so I increased the amount of leaf litter I was using and I have not run into issues since. I like using about 1/2 to 1 inch of Turface, and another inch of live oak leaf litter in the tanks. I keep the water surface about 2 inches above the top of the leaves.

I've been using two of the 2.5 gallon tanks for fant grow out. I tend to put a batch in (8 to 12) and I won't see them for months as they are pretty good about burying themselves in the leaf litter. I feed them about twice a week, and change about 50% of the water every three weeks or so. And I wait. Then a few froglets emerge. I pulled three nice looking fant froglets this weekend

I have vented lids on the tanks, so I don't have to worry about tadpoles jumping out of cups, or froglets emerging when I am not paying attention. I don't have to be as careful monitoring evaporation now that the volume of water is higher and it's a bit more forgiving from a water conditioning perspective. I can also use a lot of leaves which gives me a nice tad tea. I run the sponge filters during the day (about 12 hours) and provide still water at night. I don't have that many fant tads at any given time - I rely on the males (2.2) to transport to a front pool in their enclosure, then I scoop up the tads when they are about a month old. They seem a bit fragile when they are smaller, so I don't bother moving them.

Overall I've been pretty happy with the setup and the upkeep is a lot easier.

These guys just started getting decent at transporting this spring, so I've only pulled a batch as large as 8 in the past few months and they are just starting to come out of water. Three came out last weekend but I'd have to poke around to see what is left in there. I saw a few more swimming around but I didn't take a count.

I don't get 100%, and I'm ok with that. I started this method with Lorenzo, figuring whatever survives transport and grow out in a tank as I described above would make for a stronger breeding population. My yields are lower than pulling eggs and cup rearing, but I hope they eventually prove to be stronger offspring. Not sure all this is necessary for fants, but I like the idea of the approach. Not much scientific data to back this up...would be interesting to hear other folks' thoughts.

The summersi clutch is coming along. I have not pulled it yet because one of the eggs was deposited right on the lip of the cup so I figured I would wait for the embryo to develop further before moving.

Got this phone pic this AM of a holdback Lorenzo female in grow out. She is a 2015E animal- one of my first crosses of UE and Stewart (UE / Schwinn). So far the 2015E females I have selected are robust - large and aggressive feeders like their mom.

Her male is a 2014A animal - Stewart line group from a clutch in early 2015. I don't expect breeding from them this year as they still have some growing to do

I have been pretty conservative with the Lorenzo project. I have four groups (one producing) and I will likely add a fifth after a trade with another Lorenzo keeper. I dried out their enclosures to reduce the likelihood of breeding. I only encourage my breeding pair by buttoning up their Viv vents twice a year for a month at a time now. I have also held back about a dozen animals to ensure I have a good stock of robust pairs. I'll eventually pair up the holdbacks and distribute to the hobby hopefully this winter. They should be easily sexable at that point (18+ months).

Anyhow I'm sharing these details so Lorenzo enthusiasts can keep this in mind when breeding. In my experience, these animals require different care than typical tincs. The females are pretty fragile, so you can't breed them year round. I also try to discourage breeding until they are past 18 months and I'm now targeting 24 months. Since I'm no longer offering froglets most of the waiting will be on my end lol.

Good news on the Lorenzo front. The 1.2 I setup over the winter has deposited a clutch. This is an 8 year old male with two 18 month old females from by 2015E cross. The clutch doesn't look good, but this promising! Here's a look at their viv and where their hut and dish are located - they like it pretty secluded.

I've found Lorenzo do better in subdued lighting with a well developed canopy above. They like lurking in the shadows. This trio likes hanging out on the back wall where I glued a series of cork bark strips up the wall to provide scaffolding for plants. They tend to roost in these ledges above the hut. It's pretty dark back there, hence my crummy picture of two of them:

The suspected female from another young 1.1 I've setup:

She's still a bit young, but she's looking like she'll develop into a nice robust female. Here's the male from the old 2015E pairing. He's grouped with a 2015C female who is coming along...maybe this winter.

The proven 1.1 is doing well, though they are about to get some plant changes which will likely rattle them a bit. The 1.2 is depositing, and the two 1.1's are still growing out So there's the Lorenzo update!

The log is actually covered with an epiphytic fern, Davallia parvula, from Zach (goods)! The rhizomes have gone bonkers for some reason, and I get very few fronds. But it has exploded all over the cork round. I will likely harvest some from this round and try in a few other locations with different lighting and misting conditions to see if it grows differently.